Featured Sermon: A Biblical Framework for Life

Since it is Sanctity of Life Sunday and we are marking the 44th anniversary of Roe v. Wade I thought I would share a sermon I preached back on January 18, 2009 when I was an interim pastor of Grace Evangelical Free Church in Indianola, IA. I’ve shared this before, but it has been a few years. This was the one and only time I’ve been in the pulpit for Sanctity of Life Sunday. In this sermon I provide a biblical framework for life and why I, as a follower of Christ, am prolife.

Below are some of my notes:

I. Defining Personhood

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them,”(Genesis 1:27, ESV).

“When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe,” (Exodus 21:22-25, ESV).

“Your hands fashioned and made me,
and now you have destroyed me altogether.
Remember that you have made me like clay;
and will you return me to the dust?
Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit,” (Job 10:8-12, ESV).

“For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them,” (Psalm 139:13-16, ESV)

“…before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations,” (Jeremiah 1:5, ESV).

In the New Testament:

Via Randy Alcorn:

In Luke 1:41, 44 there are references to the unborn John the Baptist, who as the end of his second trimester in the womb.  The word translated baby in these verses is theses verses is the Greek word brephos.   It is the same word used for the already born baby Jesus (Luke 2:12, 16) and for the babies brought to Jesus to receive His blessing (Luke 18:15-17).  It is also the same word used in Acts 7:19 for the newborn babies killed by Pharaoh.  To the writers of the New Testament, like the Old, whether born or unborn, a baby is simply a baby.  It appears that the preborn John the Baptist responded to presence of the preborn Jesus is His mother Mary, when Jesus was probably no more than ten days beyond His conception (Luke 1:41).

The angel Gabriel told Mary that she would be “with child and give birth to a son” (Luke 1:31).  In the first century, and in every century, to be pregnant is to be with child, not with that which might become a child.  The Scriptures teach the psychosomatic unity of the whole person, body, soul, and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23).  Wherever there is a genetically distinct living human being, there is a living soul and spirit, (Randy Alcorn, ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments, Portland, OR: Multnomah, 2000, pg. 314-315).

II. Claiming Ownership

“Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture,” (Psalm 100:3, ESV).

“But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand,” (Isaiah 64:8, ESV).

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body, (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, ESV).

III. God’s Prerogative

“‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand,” (Deuteronomy 32:39, ESV)

“The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up,” (1 Samuel 2:6, ESV).

“You shall not murder,” (Exodus 20:13, ESV).

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image,” (Genesis 9:5-6, ESV).

IV. Innocent Blood

“You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord,” (Leviticus 18:21, ESV).

“Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.  I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name.  And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech,” (Leviticus 20:1-5, ESV).

“For he delivers the needy when he calls,
the poor and him who has no helper.
He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
and precious is their blood in his sight,” (Psalm 72:12-14, ESV).

“Here are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers,” (Proverbs 6:16-19, ESV).

V.  God’s Special Love for Children

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven,”  (Matthew 18:10, ESV).

“Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.  But Jesus called them to him, saying, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God,’” (Luke 18:15-16, ESV).

“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth,” (Psalm 127:3-4, ESV).